


Drinking Alone

by WardenRoot



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Green Arrow and the Canaries (TV)
Genre: F/F, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:28:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24198244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WardenRoot/pseuds/WardenRoot
Summary: Laurel opts out of after-work drinks with Dinah and her employees, because obviously spending the evening alone is so much better.
Relationships: Dinah Drake/Earth-2 Laurel Lance
Comments: 4
Kudos: 74





	Drinking Alone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SuperStitious18](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperStitious18/gifts).



> [Inspired by this lovely art by nnuknnuk on tumblr](https://nnuknnuk.tumblr.com/post/611394061340999680/interrupted-pre-relationship-dinahsiren)

Laurel’s steps falter when she spots the small group talking animatedly between themselves at one of the tables. If she thinks it over, Dinah had told her she had planned to have drinks with her bartenders after closing today, to bond or whatever. She had extended an invitation to Laurel that she had been quick to turn down. Dinah’s face fell for just a second before she caught herself, disappointment shining through those green eyes, and for a heartbeat Laurel reconsidered, but trying to make conversation with Dinah’s employees is not how she wants to spend her evening.

Because drinking alone sounds so much better.

Which is why she had come down here in the first place — there are some four bottles of beer behind the counter just screaming for her to take them. Of course Dinah turns around to see her with them in her hands, as guilty of stealing Dinah’s beer as she’s been since arriving in 2040. Dinah has long since stopped saying anything about it. Instead, she sends Laurel a brilliant smile, nodding ever so slightly towards the table. Laurel simply musters up a smile of her own and lifts a beer in Dinah’s direction before disappearing back towards the elevator up to Dinah’s apartment.

Once in the apartment, she drops down on the couch, opening the first beer as she gazes out the window. Who needs company when they have a view like that. Besides, she really doesn’t  _ want _ to spend time with Dinah and her  _ employees _ , Laurel has enough making nice with them the few times Dinah convinces her to help out. If it was only Dinah, she wouldn’t mind as much, but she can go one evening without stealing her away from the rest of the world.

She had expected Dinah to come back up at a somewhat reasonable hour, but by the time she’s emptied all four of her beers, Dinah is still nowhere to be found. Laurel glances at the empty bottles, already hearing Dinah’s voice chastising her for not cleaning them up, especially with one having been knocked over at some point. It had already been emptied beforehand, however, so Laurel isn’t too fussed about it, and right now, she just wants to go to sleep. If Dinah wants to admonish her for it in the morning, she’ll simply cross that bridge when she gets to it.

And so, Laurel lies down and grabs at the blanket until it’s mostly covering the bottom half of her body. Facing the back of the couch, she tries to tune out the world and go to sleep, but slumber refuses to take her. She doesn’t know how long she lies like that, just waiting for her brain to turn off for a bit. It feels like an eternity before she hears the familiar sound of the elevator moving up, signaling that Dinah has finally decided to call it a night.

Familiar footsteps sound towards the stairs, but they stop prematurely, ending somewhere around the couch. Laurel presumes she has spotted the bottles littering the table.  _ Oh, great, _ she can get reprimanded now instead. But, Dinah never utters a word. What she does do, however, is practically throw herself at the couch, one arm slung around Laurel’s waist, its forearm brushing against the bare skin where Laurel’s tank has ridden up, and her body pushing as close to Laurel as it will go.

Laurel’s entire body tenses at the intrusion. Dinah has a much more comfortable bed upstairs — at least Laurel assumes it is, it’s not like the couch was made with sleeping in mind. And yet, for some reason Laurel can’t fathom, she’s decided to encroach on  _ her _ makeshift bed. Typical.

There’s a low mumble, spoken with a voice from someone clearly already asleep, and Laurel creases her brow as she sharpens her ears, trying to pick up on what Dinah is saying. It takes her too long to realize it’s her own name being whispered, but the way Dinah says it, with a slight urgency and a hint of a quiver, has Laurel just a little worried. She turns her head, her body jostling at the action, and Dinah’s arm tightens around her.

“Don’t go, please don’t.” For a second, Laurel wonders if she is awake after all, but as she fights to turn onto her back and properly gets a look at Dinah, there’s no denying that she is fast asleep. “Don’t leave me.”

Laurel scoffs.  _ Big words considering Dinah was the one who had left. _ Though Laurel supposes she left first, when she went back to Earth-2.

Dinah’s restlessness continues, and in the end, in an effort to calm her more for her own sanity than Dinah’s, Laurel moves her hand to Dinah’s back. The mumbling stops as Dinah somehow shuffles even closer, rubbing her head in the crook between Laurel’s neck and shoulder. With a sigh, Laurel tangles her other hand in Dinah’s hair, tightening her hold around her until Dinah is completely still against her. Her breath tickles along Laurel’s collarbone as she finally settles into her sleep.

Brushing her hand through Dinah’s hair, Laurel thinks that maybe this isn’t so bad. But when she looks down at her and, just for a second, the urge to press her lips against the top of Dinah’s head arises, she quickly bats the thought away. Instead of focusing on the body nearly on top of her, Laurel once more tries to fall asleep, and finds it much easier this time. She refuses to acknowledge why that might be.


End file.
